The Post Hole Issue 41 The Unique Nature of the London Mithraeum Chase Minos1 1 School of Classics, Swallowgate, Butts Wynd, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9AL. Email:
[email protected] The mystery cult of Mithras was a religious phenomenon that was, for the most part, propagated through, and associated with, the Roman military. Many inscriptions and temples on the frontiers of Rome indicate that it extended from Britain to Dura Europos, and from the Rhine to the Nile over three centuries (Clauss 2000, 16). The Temple of Mithras in the Walbrook stream valley was perhaps the largest and most significant Mithraeum found in Britain, despite being an accidental discovery (Shepherd 1998, 13). Peculiarly, this Mithraeum’s location and size suggest that the nature of the cult might not have been as firmly connected with the Roman army as once thought. Mithraism was affected and influenced by local practices, gods and social changes within the Roman Empire, as will be made clear in some of the iconography discussed below (Clauss 2000, 16). Figure 1. Distribution of Inscriptions, Altars and Mithraea in Britain, Pannonia Superior, Germania and Dacia. Vermaseren, M.J. 1956, 449. Four legions were originally stationed in Britain but, after the first century this was reduced to three. During the next three centuries they gradually decreased in size (Mattingly 2006, 130-131). Initially they were the II Augusta, XIV Gemina (Martia Victrix post 61CE), the XX Augusta (Valeria Victrix post 61 CE) from Lower Germany, and the IX Hispana from Pannonia; six legions in total www.theposthole.org 34 The Post Hole Issue 41 are attested to have served in Britain including the II Adiutrix and VI Victrix (Daniels 1975, 249).